New Honda Civic Type R now available to order

The Honda Civic Type R is one step closer to be being a feature on Australian roads again.

Honda has responded to what is one of the most hotly anticipated cars of 2017 by opening up its order books to potential customers long before the car launches locally in October 2017.

When revealed at the 2017 Geneva motor show the Type R's 2.0-litre turbocharged engine was rated at producing 235kW of power and 400Nm of torque and is mated to a six-speed manual, which is well above other benchmark rivals like the Volkswagen Golf R. Hope is that unlike some of its European rivals the Honda Civic Type R's performance isn't slightly detuned for Australia.

These power figures helped the new hot hatch set the record in April 2017 for the fastest front-wheel drive car around the Nurburgring with a time of 7m43.80s time, eclipsing the time set by the previous model – which wasn't sold in Australia – by 6.83 seconds.

When discussing the Type R's blistering lap time, Honda chassis engineer Ryuichi Kijima, said the new Type R's speed is helped by improved stability that gives drivers more confidence in high-speed corners.

"The cornering speed achieved in the new Type R is higher because the car features a wider track and tyres, a longer wheelbase, new multi-link suspension in the rear and optimised aerodynamics that improves stability," said Kijima.

Australian examples of the Type R will ride on 20-inch alloy wheels fitted with high-performance tyres and four-pot Brembo brakes.